Marc-André Fleury shuts out the Canadiens in his last game at the Bell Centre

Dose
Crédit:

Tonight, the Canadiens were at the Bell Centre. For the occasion, they hosted the Minnesota Wild.

Kaiden Guhle was obviously absent, so Jayden Struble took his place in the lineup. Rafaël Harvey-Pinard took the place of Michael Pezzetta, who was sidelined.

Here is the complete lineup, with Jakub Dobes in net:

As for the Wild, who were in action yesterday, the club made no changes… except in net.

Marc-André Fleury was the starting goalie, playing his last career game at the Bell Centre.

I won’t waste your time for the first period: literally nothing interesting happened during the first 20 minutes of this game.

In fact, the only noteworthy moment occurred before the first period, when the fans at the Bell Centre showed their love for Fleury during the national anthem. A beautiful moment.

After 20 minutes, the score was 0-0.

In the second period, however, the Wild became a bit more opportunistic. A rather messy play by the Canadiens in their zone gave a great scoring chance to Liam Öhgren.

And he didn’t miss his chance.

Then, a few minutes later, Lane Hutson stumbled in the offensive zone… and Arber Xhekaj didn’t put in the effort of the century in his zone.

This allowed Marco Rossi to score his 18th goal of the season.

After 40 minutes, the score was 2-0 in favor of the Wild. The Canadiens only fired eight shots during those 40 minutes.

Martin St-Louis’ squad needed a jolt in the third… and just as the team was gaining a little momentum, Devin Shore broke the party.

That was his first goal in a Wild uniform.

During a commercial break, the Canadiens took the time to highlight Fleury’s last game at the Bell Centre… and for a second time tonight, the goalie received a ton of love from the fans on site.

And he deserved every second of that love.

At the end of the game, the Canadiens pulled Dobes for a sixth skater… but they were unable to get past the wall Flower.

Frédérick Gaudreau finished the scoring into an empty net.

Like in a good Hollywood movie, Marc-André Fleury shut out the Canadiens in his last career game at the Bell Centre. The fans chanted his name with about twenty seconds left in the game.

Final score: 4-0 Minnesota

The Canadiens will be back in action Sunday at 4 PM, as they head to Anaheim to face the Ducks.

Overtime

– The Canadiens looked completely lifeless tonight. It’s concerning given that the team was at home… and was facing a team that had just played in Toronto last night. We truly saw the Canadiens of November tonight… and it’s worrying.

– Jakub Dobes wasn’t exceptional tonight, but he made big saves to give his team a chance to win. Hard to ask for more from him.

– The absence of Kaiden Guhle was felt tonight. The duo formed by Lane Hutson and Arber Xhekaj really struggled… and this shows how much everyone was in the right spot when the lineup was healthy. Some guys will need to step up… because Guhle, even though he was at the Bell Centre tonight, will be out for quite a while.

– An owner giving a standing ovation for a goalie who shuts out his team: you don’t see that every day.